Fun work Christmas party

Hi everyone,

Well, hope your weekend was just fantastic. Today, I walked on the beach for only an hour this time, the first 30 minutes by the shore and the next 30 actually in the sand, allowing my feet to sink deep - and get a better workout. I felt like I was going 2 feet an hour. On the beach, I saw a lot of volleyball sets and players - and it really made me want to get back into volleyball. How is that possible you say? Well, I may only be 5'2'', but I used to be semi-good and really love that sport. Mom introduced me to it because in France she played for 7 years as a teen. Anyway, I thought I might look into joining some kind of club for some casual playing, and get back into shape and have some fun. I'll let you know if that works out :)

Then I went to my office's Christmas party. My boss' boss house is absolutely beautiful and in a good area. She's really nice and I had a great time. At first it was a tiny bit awkward, because as people came in, they started chatting and catching up, and I wasn't really included since I'm the new girl, and of course I'm shy, so I was on my own for about 20 minutes. But luckily, that changed as people wanted to know more about me, I found out one of my colleagues loves Family Guy like me and said to her husband "see, I told you we'd get along with her!" :) and suddenly we got in conversations of Family Guy with about 8 people and South Park, and apparently my boss can make Cartman expressions or something... anyway, we had great food, great desserts, stayed for about 4 hours, and the boss gave all of us a Merry Christmas gift, a bottle of Veuve Clicquot. So, I don't drink but decided to save it for a special occasion where other people can enjoy it :).  That was nice of her though! I hear it's really good Champagne, but what do I know. I did sip a tiny bit of red wine at the party - and got a headache. I thought I'd be okay with wine because it's got antioxidants and a sip won't kill me. Yeah. This is why I don't drink though, I'm such a lightweight, and I'm not a believer in alcohol, there's obvious evidence that it's bad for you.  But we had some good times, we had 4 Italians at the party, one of which speaks no English, so I decided to try and speak with her with the very little Italian I know and the lotsa Spanish I know. I actually couldn't speak it, but could understand it pretty well.

So, that's about it for today! I'm glad I wasn't too bored this weekend, although at some times it was tough. I guess I know how to fill my time though. Last night, I ended up doing laundry around 10pm, and a lady randomly asked me if I were from Utah, and I said yes, how did you know? (I didn't know I had a typical Utahn look) and she said that I was wearing a Mountain America Credit Union sweatshirt. Touché.

So also, last night I checked out JL Clyde's blog and she reminded me of the One Day Photo Project. I also discovered, from one of her friends a Shiba Inu Puppy Live Cam, and it made me so sad, because I miss Roxy so much! Roxy's my parent's Shiba Inu and she looks just like the puppies on the cam. I never thought I could love dogs (I'm a cat person) until we got Roxy. Miss you girl! I miss everyone else too by the way... sorry if I don't really mention anyone else but The Boyfriend & the puppy, but I really do miss everyone :)

Well, tomorrow's my second week at work, which should be even more action-packed, and I have my first meeting on Thursday. I'd like to give a shout-out to $teve because he FINALLY posted on his blog today. LoL. We missed ya! I definitely want to see Filly's apartment pictures so that I can have reading material tomorrow night. :)

By the way, today I'm grateful for: a new family. When I left the Christmas party, I got lots of hugs and even kisses on the cheek (then again, 1/3 were Italian). I engaged in real adult conversations although I'm only 24 and everyone was probably between their mid 30's to early 40's. They asked me if I had been to Disneyland (One of my colleague's buddy works for Disney) and I said I did back in '92. "So you must have been, like 5 years old" said my boss, and I said, "well, actually, yeah, you're close, I was 8". (Chuckle). I hate how young I am sometime in my job environment, because I'm scared people won't take me seriously when I've got a fairly important position, responsibility and persuasion-wise. But I've proved myself responsible so far and believe that I'll be just fine. I may be shy at first, but once I'm comfortable with the people I talk to, I talk... A LOT, and talk about what that age group may be interested in or what's relevant to them. 

Another fun thing that made my day today: Manhattan Beach has so many cool, delicious looking Zagat rated restaurants that I just want to try them all. In fact, I may have to start a fundraiser, so that I can afford to do that. I'll call it the "Lilie wants the full so-cal experience" fundraiser. Except that I'm not getting a boob job. Love the little tata's :). Also, as you may have noticed, I have finally found the "link" button, and am taking way to much advantage of it. I'll stop now before I become link-crazy. Buena Note!